Movie Reviews

"My first frustration was not knowing what episodes are included in the set. On opening the packaging, I was disappointed to see that it is on 4 double-sided discs so there are no directory labels on the discs. Also, the disc id's are on the very small hub rings. Don't bother to check the Mill Creek website for episode contents either.

So, I tediously inserted each DVD and review the menus (flipping for each side) and what do I find... the side B's on two of them won't play in my best DVD player - Incompatible Disc!!

I swapped to a lesser quality DVD player and they play okay. However, the quality of the recordings is really sub-standard. The back of the case says "Digitally Re-Master on 4 DVD's". Take my word for it. Nothing about these recording is remastered!! The recording quality is inconsistant, some are nearly un-watchable, either too light, too dark, or too contrasty which can can make these old Black & white episodes look like they were record off the last TV (syndicated) broadcast airing of of very old worn film.

Having said all this, it's kind of funny, they look just like I remember them! So, there you go. I haven't had enough time to watch all of them, but then I wasn't a fan of all of these series, only a few of them.

Finally, there appears to be no rhyme or reason in the selection and sequence of the episodes, but for those that care, here is what I found.

"TV Westerns Collection is a compilation of 57 episodes from 8 different Western TV shows from the days when Hollywood knew how to make great Westerns on both the big and small screens. I paid $9.99 for my set and considering that you can pay $5 and higher for just 4 episodes of one of these shows, you cannot complain about the price. The reason why you can get so many episodes for such a low price is that all of these shows are in the public domain. The quality of the prints used in this collection vary, but overall you will get a fairly decent picture on your screen.

The really great thing about this collection is that it is not limited to the usual suspects, that is shows such as Cisco Kid, Lone Ranger, The Rifleman & The Roy Rogers Show that are quite easy to find and obtain. The collection also includes such shows as Adventures of Champion, Bat Masterson, Death Valley Days and The Range Rider that are harder to find."